It was one of those lucky coincidences…but first let me tell you this: I NEVER watch TV before 6pm. The hours between rising from bed and dinner time are “work hours” whatever the heck that means at my age and at this stage of my career. I take my morning walk (I lie to myself and say 2 miles but it’s really more like 1.5 but at least I walk regularly), then I sit in my office and either write new music, or new prose, or edit old music and old prose. I’ll pick up the guitar and practice a bit and do some recording now and then. And of course, I still have my regular weekly gigs to do: I play “Lunch Jazz” at a very nice local café called “Honeycomb Bread Bakery” every Wednesday.
https://www.honeycombbread.com/
They pay me well, feed me crisp, melt-in-the-mouth croissants and serve up an excellent cappuccino.
Today, I broke my vow and turned on the set at 3pm. I had already done plenty of work and was planning to do some “research” on Chet Baker on YouTube. Anyone who’s done “research” on YouTube knows that you can sit down at 3pm searching for Chet Baker and stand up at midnight having just watched a documentary about aliens. That did not happen to me today. What happened was the above mentioned lucky coincidence…
Chet Baker, the tragic figure of jazz trumpet, a hopeless heroin addict all his life, found dead under the window of his Amsterdam hotel at the age of 58 was, in his younger years a strikingly handsome young man, just like Dean. Baker was called the “James Dean of Jazz” and contributed to the soundtrack of a 1956 James Dean biopic. Long story short, in my searches, I came across a 2001 made-for-TV move entitled simply “James Dean” with -wait for it - Czech subtitles! YouTube is a motherlode of the weird and wonderful. James Franco plays Dean with an intensity and precision that will make the hair on your arms stand on end. His portrayal is so accurate, it’s truly frightening. The unspeakable tragedy of the young James Dean accompanying his deceased mother’s casket home to Indiana on a long train ride, and then his father not showing up at the funeral will break your heart, especially when the scene is re-enacted at the end of the movie…but I don’t want to give away too much. There are funny moments to be sure and the script cuts keenly, but Franco’s ferocious intensity in the main role is astounding. Everything he does, on stage, on camera and in his private life is driven by a profound desperate longing to be recognized and respected by his father, whose emotional distance is unbelievable until explained in one of the final scenes.
If you watch the Czech-subtitled copy (see second link below) you won’t have to pay. Other, “cleaner” copies can be purchased or rented on YouTube. Emotionally draining but worth every second of watching just to witness James Franco’s bravura performance
Great review. In my cranky old age I miss too many good movies. Not a James Dean or a James Franco fan so I gave this a miss but I will now rent it.